staph or food allergy? - Page 3

A 5-month-old simply has puppy (Staph) pyoderma and may not be immuno-competent. This can generally be treated with baths and topical solutions.

However, with one female pup (not bred by me--but by someone who used poly-valent vaccines and ivermectin as a routine wormer) who scratched herself constantly (thump, thump, thump--in her crate when we went on a long trip). Although there was hair loss on her chest, axillae, inner thighs, and belly, there were no weeping, gross lesions. I put her on oral steroids for an few days (to break the damned itch cycle) and on oral antibiotics.

Today, she is now almost 12 years old and is the healthiest dog I've seen. Of course, she eats a raw diet, is never wormed, takes no medications to prevent heartworm, and hasn't been vaccinated (except for rabies) for many years.

I believe that your friend's dog has problems that may be considered "iatragenic"--that is, caused by the physician. Tell her to read this thread and consider finding a vet who believes in complementary veterinary medicine. I will bet that this poor dog has been vaccinated for everything in the book and that many of her problems may be a form of vaccinosis.

She may wish to consider putting her bitch on Herpanacine--and oral supplement for humans--comprised of anti-oxidants, amino acids, and herbs--designed to support and maintain skin health: http://www.diamondformulas.com/herpana.htm. It's great stuff--I have used it on my dogs--although, not in many years.

If I had relied on traditional veterinary medicine over the years, my dogs would be in deep s**t.

 I would almost bet this is staph and I have seen this multiple times and normally, it is a relatively easy cure IF treated appropriately. Louise has made some good suggestions, except we disagree about vaccines. None the less, this should not have gone on this long. I think the vet would certainly feel challenged if someone read or told her how to practice, so I am not suggesting one do that. Simply getting a second opinion would make good sense. Trying some of the suggestions we have made is also good sense. Perhaps the best sense of all is not bothering to tell this person who has the dog because she too does not seem to get it.

Common sense says look first at the most simple and likely cause. That is bacteria in this case and a simple swab of some of the fluid in the vesicles could be examined by a competent vet to see what type of bacteria are there. There are a lot of reasons why pathogenic bacteria proliferate. If one wants to solve the puzzle, one must find a way to remove those environmental conditions favoring the pathogens vs. normal (and non-pathogenic) bacteria. But if the owner of the dog does not listen, yes, you probably have wasted your time trying to help. It happens a lot in the GSD world that people don't really want to know.....

What kind of treatments has the dog been getting.  You said shots?  It could be staph, or could just be a nasty skin infection.   Has the skin been cultured or even biopsied?  Or even just a swab to see if it's bacteria.  The dog could very well be treated with the wrong antibiotic.  As Louise said Cephalexin is a very good antibiotic for skin.  Simplicef is also a good one, similiar to Ceph, but once a day.   It might not be a bad idea for her to go to a veterinary dermatogist.  If she was going for a second opinion, why not just go there.   

My female tends to get skin infections on her bell in the summertime and for her yes it stems from being contantly wet in the kiddie pool and mud all summer.  So once every summer she goes on antibiotics. 

Does she have any other lesions elsewhere?  Generally speaking, food allergies are usually around the head.  And very few dogs are ONLY food allergic.  IOW, there is usually environmental allergies as well. 

I would say take her to a good Dermatologist to save her some money in the long run and to help her dog.  I looks like the dog is licking or chewing that area - I have seen this once before and they gave my friend Ottomax (sp) actually for ears but did application to the lesion and it healed nicely - took two weeks.  But my vote is to get the dog to a Derm - not a common VET.

hodie: Louise has made some good suggestions, except we disagree about vaccines.

Nevertheless, vaccines should only be administered to well dogs whose immune systems are not compromised.

Perhaps a visit to a veterinary dermatologist is in order for your friend. Also, the woman needs to realize that veterinarians are not gods.

The trouble with culturing is that all sorts of bacteria (including Staph) normally live on the skin--making it difficult to distinguish which pathogenic and which is not. It is for this reason that I would to treat the condition empirically.

Yes, my dogs have had Staph infections--usually, from getting wet (and not being toweled dry) in the kiddie pool or remain soaked with rain during the winter months. A warm, moist area creates an ideal environment for bacteria to replicate. And, yes, I have treated these conditions exactly as I've described above--without veterinary intervention.

While treating the dog, your friend may also consider giving her Seacure (concomitantly). I have heard good things about this product and plan to order some for myself: http://www.naturedoc.com/products/seacure.html

I do think that the Staph injections on this dog are a bit overkill at this point. 

She needs to get to another vet, preferably a specialist.

And as someone else said, vets are not gods!  Though some may lead you to believe that they are.